The Other Door
by SylverGrace
Summary: This is a Sliding Doors fan fiction with undertones of Just Like Heaven if you tilt your head and squint a bit.


_This is a_ _Sliding Doors_ _fan-fiction. The idea has plagued me since I first saw the movie when I was 10 and now I'm getting up the courage to do something about it. This may very well turn out to be just a one shot no one will read but I think it should be out there as I cant find any others like it._

.

James let out a ragged breath, one filled with relief and sorrow, as his body curled as best it could around Helen and the operating table she was on. Her monitors had flat lined and James could not, _would not_ hold back the tears that had built up in his eyes as he had tried to coax her back from the edge of death. He had failed to pull her back, but at the very least he could take some comfort in the knowledge that she was not in pain anymore. It still hurt though and he ached with the loss of her and their child.

.

Gerry watched Helen closely as her eyes fluttered open, unsure of what she was seeing or if she remembered anything that had lead to her being in hospital. He had prayed so fervently for her to wake up, to come back to him, and for a moment he dared to hope she had. He should not have been so optimistic. Helen turned her blue eyes on him and they narrowed. She didn't speak, just closed her eyes and sunk back into her pillows. Gerry didn't know it, but Helen was lost in the images of another life flashing through her mind eye.

"Helen?" Gerry's voice grated on her ears that felt like they had been stuffed with cotton fluff. No, she would not open her eyes again. She would not look at him. She did not want to look at him. Her eyes burned and her heart ached but she refused to cry. Gerry did not deserve her tears after all that the shagging bastard had done. She would not give him that, not ever again. But she could not deny the pain in her soul as images of another man, one with messy hair and an obsession with The Beetles and Monty Python, played through her head. He did not deserve that, to lose her... doppelganger? Counterpart?... like that. No one as good as that man apparently was deserved that type of loss.

Clenching her eyes tight Helen willed her blonde double to breath, for her heart to beat. _Wake up Helen. Wake up Helen Quilley._ She willed the thoughts to the lifeless blonde woman with her name and face. She was tempted to shout the words but did not think it would do any more good than what she was currently doing. As the woman in her head continued to flatline and slip further away from the man Helen felt her frustration with the supposedly stronger woman reach its limit and snap. Viciously she thought at the woman she was certain she could feel at the edge of her mind. **_Wake the bloody hell up, Helen! Now!_** She would hit the other woman if she could.

A thought, one not her own, forced it's way through her annoyance and frustration, _If I live, you would die._ Helen felt her lip curl in annoyance. What did that matter? She ought to have died in that fall that took her baby. And besides what, exactly, did she have to live for? The other Helen had so much more going for her.

 _ **You will bloody well go back there and wake up. This is not up for debate.**_ She imagined the other woman, faint and fading, standing at the end of her hospital bed and twitched. Stupid, stubborn woman. She wanted to grab the woman by her short blonde hair and force her back, back to the man that clearly loved and adored her, to the new friends and wonderful life she had built for herself. Helen pictured herself glaring at the blonde and she pointed to the door of the hospital room. _**Go,**_ she left no room for arguement.

She could picture her other self putting her hands on her hips and hearing up to dig her heals in and be stubborn. She would not, could not, allow that. She clenched her hands into fists and pictured shoving and pushing and pulling the woman down the hall to where her body was in the... alternate universe? Whatever, it wasn't her issue to deal with. Clearly there was more to the silliness of spirituality than she had ever considered but this was beyond the point.

It felt like an age had passed before she managed to get the other Helen into the operating theater. The man was still there and a technician was coming in to unhook all of the monitors. Pursing her lips, Helen, still holding her blonde duplicate's hand approached the body and then forced her counter part back into the body. There was a blip on the heart monitor and both the man and the tech stopped. Another slow blip. It wasn't enough, the tech was assuring the man that it was probably a mechanical error. Helen rolled her eyes and sat herself down on her doppelganger's stomach. She felt the pain this body was in. She felt the want to go and to stay pulling her in all directions. She took a deep breath and let herself fall into the other Helen. _Not too much,_ she advised herself. _Just enough to jumpstart her._ The monjtor beeped faster and the tech was calling for a doctor and nurses. The man had tears pouring down his cheeks. Helen liked this man. As she felt herself fading away, now that the other Helen was coming back. Before she faded completely Helen reached out and stroked the man's cheek. _You be good to her_ she pushed the thought out to him and he looked entirely shocked as he was removed from the room.

With that, blue eyed, brown haired Helen Quilley faded out of existence completely.

.

It would take Helen Quilley, blue eyed and blonde, several months to fully recover. The doctors and such were all astonished and everyone kept telling her that it was a miracle that she was alive, that all of her body had healed and that she had not suffered lasting brain damage. Anna had asked her what had brought her back, a few months into her recovery, and she had given her best friend an enigmatic smile and said "I am too stubborn for my own good." Anna had shrugged it off and was really to happy that she was ok to think much of it.

James had been there from the moment he had been allowed into her room. She was sure he had spent more time in the hospital than was fair, going back and forth between his mother and her. He hadn't cared, determined to be there and to make right the few wrongs he had made. Two months into her stay, James had brought his mother, Mary, to see her. The older woman was clearly as eccentric and wonderful as her son and Helen liked her at once. She had even met Claudia and decided that, despite everything, she liked the other woman.

After nearly three months in hospital she was released with strict orders to take it slow and not over exert herself. She had rolled her eyes but agreed. She was still in a bit of pain and did not want to make it worse. James had tried to talk her into staying with him, claiming that it would be easier and she could stay in a ground floor room so as not to stress herself with all the stairs at Anna's. She had denied it and insisted it would be good for her. It wasn't an arguement per se but it had not been pleasant. She had spent the ride to Anna's going back and forth trying to convince him she really had forgiven him and that, no she did not want to end their relationship etc.

He had insisted on helping her up the stairs and into the sitting room and then making sure she was settled before he left to go in to work for a few hours.

It would be a further two months before she was fully recovered and back at work herself. Everyday it seemed someone was dropping by the house or office; James, Clive, the boys from the rowing club and so many others. Even Gerry had gotten up the nerve to pop his head out of whatever hole he had decided to stick it in. She had liked Gerry even less than she had, now that she had the memories of the other Helen. She would live with them for the rest of her life, but that was ok because someone needed to remember that woman and the memories would serve to help her in the future she was sure.

.

A year after the accident Helen was happy and doing well in her life. She had moved in with James around two months ago and Anna had been thrilled. Helen was too but she was sure her friend's enthusiasm was because Anna was sick of having James over every night and listening to them be intimate. Helen laughed a bit as she worked on cleaning the dishes from dinner. She had something she needed to tell James and she wasn't going to be as hesitant or cagey as she had been the last time. The box was sitting on the counter where she had placed it after dinner before she got to work on the dishes.

James came into the kitchen and smiled at her from the doorway. He loved her with all he had and he was determined to marry her, the ring in his pocket was burning and he was certain that he would give it to her tonight.

"Helen?" He called to her. She looked up and smiled at him. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure," she said and rinsed soap sounds from her hands before drying them on a dish rag. She turned and leaned against the counter, "Everything ok?"

James nodded and approached her, his hands tucked into his pocket. "Everythings fine, perfect if you want my honest opinion," he said with a grin. He didn't have some big speach planned, he was going with what felt right and natural to them. "I love you, Helen."

He was standing in front of her now, maybe half a foot between them. She grinned at him and nodded. "Of course and I love you as well."

He pulled his hands out of his pocket, his right hand holding her ring in a closed fist. He picked up her hands and let the ring press against her palm. "Helen?" She was looking at him, wide eyed now. "Marry me?"

Her eyes widened impossibly and absently she thought that now would be as good a time as any. She wrapped her hand around his, the ring pressed between them. She pulled her other hand free and her teeth began to bite into her lower lip. She picked up the box and held it out to him.

James looked down at her hand and what she held out to him. It took him a moment before he registered what she was holding out to him. It was his turn to stare with wide eyes. "A-are you sure?"

She smiled and nodded, squeezing his hand that was still held in his. "Two and a half months," she said.

He grinned and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her soundly on her grinning lips.


End file.
